


Easy As Breathing

by Cloudy_Boy



Category: Final Fantasy 7
Genre: A/U, Lemon, M/M, OOC Cloud, Romance, Slash, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-06 15:42:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4227516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudy_Boy/pseuds/Cloudy_Boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud is a normal boy who's life changes when he is run down one day by Zack Fair, and a romance slowly blossoms between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meetings

Easy As Breathing Rewrite  
AndiAi

 

A/N: Okay, so this was actually my most popular fic on this site, I'm doing a complete and total overhaul on it, to match my writing today, which is way better than it was in 2011, a 21 year old mind can think better than a 15 year old mind can when it comes to the adult situations that are in this story. I hope that this story does justice to the other one! If you want to see how it was before, I'll be leaving the original on my profile so people can compare and contrast.

Chapter 1: Meetings

It was a day in the middle of February, which was an oddity in Neibelheim, and I walked in deliberate steps home from school, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on my skin. A rare smile crossed my face when the wind blew, pushing bits of litter that had been left on the ground out of the places where they had been left for gods know how long. My pace picked up a bit when my house was in sight and I adjusted the heavy bag on my shoulder. “Thank gods it's Fri-” I started to whisper to himself just as someone ran into me, effectively knocking me flat on my face.

“I am SO sorry!” I heard a voice saying, it sounded slightly panicked and I turned around to look at the person who had so rudely delayed me getting home.

“It's fine..” I said quietly, averting his gaze from the Raven haired stranger, not wanting to have to talk to him for longer than what was absolutely necessary. The black haired man offered me his hand, to help me up when I started struggling to stand, I sighed in defeat and took his hand, I pulled on it and balanced myself carefully, before muttering a small “Thanks” and taking off towards my house, opening the door quickly and slamming it shut. I leaned against the door and sunk to the ground. I hated having to deal with people, and the embarrassment of being knocked over just doubled the awkwardness of the entire situation for me. I frowned, taking a few deep breaths trying to let myself move on from the situation that had just occurred, then someone knocked on the door.

“How much do you wanna bet it's that guy.” I muttered to myself, a bit of poison lacing my words, my frustration over the situation starting to surface a little more. I opened the door and sure enough, there he was. “Yes?” I groaned.

“I really am sorry.” The man said. “My name is Zack, let me make it up to you”

“Not interested.” I said shortly, basically glaring at him.

This was the first time I had really seen him though, his eyes were a really deep blue, almost glowing, though, my eyes were a lot like that too. His face was pale and flawless, except for a small scar that made a small “X” on his right cheek, and for some reason I had the urge to reach out and trace it, but I shook it off and continued to glare at him.

“ No need to be so bitter.” He said, a frown went across his face and I rolled my eyes. “ I really am sorry though, if you change your mind about me making it up to you, I live two doors down from here, he offered a smile and turned around. I slammed the door shut, and locked it, making my way up the stairs, my footsteps causing the boards to groan in protest. When I arrived to my room I dropped the heavy backpack onto the floor and walked over to my desk, turning my laptop on, planning to spend the day scrolling mindlessly through whatever I happened to come across and numb my brain. That was the plan, until my twin sister Rikku barged into my room and practically attacked me.

“Cloud!” She squealed in obvious delight to see me, she was identical to me, except for her vivid green eyes, totally different from my own eyes. My mom gave my eyes to me and my father passed down his eyes to her. I ruffled her light blonde hair and stood up allowing her to tug me to wherever she wanted me to go. The thing with Rikku was that even if you didn't want to give her, her way, she would get it anyway, mostly because she had mastered the art of pouting.

“Where are you dragging me?” I whined sarcastically, I heard her laugh quietly but all I got in reply was a finger over my lip, which in turn I licked.

“Ewwww!” She exclaimed. “You are so gross!” She smacked me playfully, but never faltering in the pace she was making to whatever, or wherever was so important that she was forcing me to go with her. “So there is this new neighbor, and he is so cute! I figured you would want to see him.” At that exact moment is when my whining went from mock to real, mostly because I already had a good idea of who this guy might be, and I was not in the mood to have to recount how I had already met him. Mostly because Rikku would be all over it.

“Rikku, no!” I protested and fought against her grip futilely, her grip only tightened, and once she had her death grip on you there was no way out without injuring yourself. This could be a good tool to have on your side sometimes, but at this very moment I hated how strong she was.

She looked at me, widening her green eyes. “Come on Cloud.” she said softly, almost as if I had hurt her feelings. “For me?” She made the 'me' longer than it needed to be, and stuck her bottom lip out slightly.

Her puppy dog face was stronger than my dislike for this new neighbor, so I gave in with a reluctant “Fine, but I'm not happy about it.” She quickly changed her expression to a victorious one. She guided me to her room, we hadn't made it yet because of all my struggling, though in normal time we would have been here in less than a minute. I groaned when she took my shoulder and pushed me toward her window.

She pointed to the already familiar raven haired man who I now knew as Zack. “His name is-”

“Zack.” I said cutting her off. “I've already had the pleasure of meeting him.” I said sarcastically.

She looked at me incredulously. “Spill.” She demanded, and I rolled my eyes, going into the details of the events that happened just before she assaulted me and dragged me into her room. “Oh. My. God!” She was literally bouncing out of her seat when I told her about how he followed me to the house, she had a big grin on her face and her eyes were flashing with excitement. “He asked you out!”

I shook my head immediately. “No, there was no asking out.” I corrected her very carefully.

“Cloud, please don't tell me you are THAT naive.” She said disdain thickly lacing her voice. “Usually when a guy says 'let me make it up to you', it's a way to ask you out.” She smacked my forehead.

“Well, I am in no way, shape, or form interested in him.” I said, nodding my head to assert my statement.  
She rolled her eyes and smirked. “But he certainly seems interested in you, and you better bet if that is the case, he will make another appearance in your life.” and with that she ushered me out of her room, leaving me to think about what she had just said. God, sisters could be so pushy.

End Note: I changed quite a bit from the original, mostly because I needed some more supporting characters and detail. Cloud's personality also differs from that of the game, mostly because I am treating things as if the events of the game had never occurred, and there was no SOLDIER program. Also, there will be characters from multiple Final Fantasy titles. Comment as you will, any comment is welcome, even the flames direct me more toward how I want to write!


	2. A Day In The Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or town names! Duh...

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 2: A day in the life

AndiAi

 

 

A few days later, I sat at the kitchen table, poking at my cereal absentmindedly as Rikku walked around noisily. I sighed loudly and lay my head next to the bowl, the exhaustion from being up too early starting to take it's toll on me. I looked up at Rikku, who was too cheerful for it being so early. “Gods, I hate morning people, why don't you slow down a bit?” I said in a slightly playful tone.

 

She looked over at me and poked her tongue out at me. I groaned. “Have some coffee, Mr. Grump.” She said putting a coffee mug in front of me, I looked up to her and smiled. She knew this was the only thing that could get me up and motivated in the morning, especially when it was this early. I looked at the clock which read 6:07 AM.

 

“Why are we up so early again?” I whined. “School doesn't even start til 8:30.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “You have to run a few errands before we go to school.” She sighed, sounding annoyed with my whining. “Besides, getting up this early allows you more time to wake up so you can be more productive at school. You're gonna need to be more productive if you want to graduate this year instead of next.” I groaned again, she was gonna start being like a parent at this point, though we had been talking about graduating early for as long as we can remember.

 

I basically glared at her and nodded, taking a sip of the coffee, cringing when I realized she made it black. “Ew.” I said jumping up and going for the fridge. “Couldn't even put sugar in it?!” She grinned mischievously and giggled a bit.

 

“Thought it might motivate you a bit, and it did. Look who's up and moving around to make his own coffee.” she said taking a sip of her own coffee. This made me roll my eyes. She wasn't gonna be my parent, she was going to be a lot worse for the rest of the year. I trudged back over to my seat and plopped into my chair, after sitting my coffee on the table. I reached forward and took a bite of my cereal then looked up to Rikku.

 

“Hurry up..” she sighed, making me roll my eyes, wishing she would give me a break already.

 

A few hours and a few errands later I parked my car in the student lot of the school and leaned back in the seat. A half hour til classes started, and I was already ready to go home and sleep off the day. “Agh..” I groaned and opened my car door, grabbing my keys out of the ignition and locking the rest of the car up, after I grab my books from the passenger seat I slammed my car door shut and made my way to the front doors of the school very slowly. Four more months and I would more than likely be out of here, thanks to all the hard work I had been putting into it since I was in eighth grade. I started taking some high school credit courses, and from then on I had been focusing more on the requirements to graduate than taking a bunch of electives.

 

“CLOUD!” I heard a high pitched voice yell, immediately I recognized it to be my friend Yuffie. I rolled my eyes, and then turned around just in time to be tackled, nearly knocking me over. “Hey!”

 

I laughed lightly, and looked at her. She was grinning from ear to ear and her deep brown eyes were shining brightly. “Geez Yuffie, it's only been 3 days since you saw me last.”

 

“Annnnd?” She said playfully. “Three days is a long time to be away from your friends!” she defended her self with a grin.

 

I shook my head and returned her very violent hug. “This is true, though sometimes it's good to be alone.” I said, looking toward her with a smile, she elbowed me lightly, and we walked to our lockers talking about how our weekends were, hers was a bit longer than the rest of us, thanks to the flu bug that was going around, and she was begging me to bring her up to date on what she had missed on Friday, though the answer was the same as when any of us missed, not a thing happened. Then I told her what had happened on Friday after school and she had the same reaction Rikku did, they were always way too much alike for their own goods; maybe they should have been the twins.

 

“Well, he sounds nice enough.” she teased as we sat on the benches in the hallway outside of our first period class.

 

“Yes, nice enough to knock me over!” I teased back, and she smiled.

 

“It was obviously an accident, and don't you think you overreacted a bit?” She pointed out.

 

I thought about the events that had occurred the moments after the incident. “I don't know.. maybe.” I breathed. “But I was already having a pretty stressful day. Rikku has been riding me so hard on keeping focused this year, she treats me like she is my mother.”

 

She nodded and looked at me thoughtfully. “Well, you treat her like you are her father too. You guys take care of each other, that isn't a _**bad**_ thing.” She smiled comfortingly as she said this. Most of the time she could be a total idiot, but other times she was wise, and that is the best kind of friend to have. 

 

I smiled. “You're right.”

 

“I know!” She jumped up and made a peace sign. “Now, no more serious talk, I've filled my wise quota for the month!” I couldn't help but laugh with her standing up as I noticed the time.

 

“Deal.” I agreed with a smile, and walked into our homeroom with her, smiling at my two other best friends in their seats. I sat in the non spoken assigned seats that had been in effect since the beginning of the year. The was Aerith, sporting a pink bow in her hair that fell in waves, making her hair look like a waterfall that flowed down her back, more than likely from the braid that she normally wore. Then there was Tifa, her long dark brown hair fell down in a pin straight line on her stomach, her wine colored eyes shone in the light, and she offered me a bright smile. As class began I fell into the routine that I had grown accustomed to and the rest of the school day went by as normal. 

 

Work was mostly normal. I drove myself and Aerith, who worked in the store next to me. Aerith was the constantly wise one, in her sweet and happy way. She saw the world in ways no one else in this small town did, and she was modest about it. She was the most gentle person I knew, and unsurprisingly she was the only one who didn't get all excited about what had happened with Zack. She just listened to the story and put her advice for what to do about it when I asked her.

 

“He didn't mean to knock you over, at least that is what I would assume by how much he apologized. Don't be too mean if he comes around again.” She said in her normal sweet tone. And I took her advice to heart, like I always did. 

 

I worked at a local Cafe, so people came in and out a lot. I was mostly an after school and study hangout. We made a free coffee night for students on Friday nights, because of that fact. I sighed happily as I put on my uniform smock with the cafe's logo on it. I've had this job since last year, the manager was a friend of the family and put me in for the summer when I turned 15, when I showed how willing I was to work he offered me the job permanently. Though of course it was after school, and it's perfect because I could study and do homework in between customers and on slower days. 

 

I made my way from the back where the time card was and groaned when I saw Zack standing in the small line that had formed. “You can go now.” I said the woman that was working at the register, offering her a small smile.

 

“Thanks!” She said happily, probably glad to be getting off just in time for the dinner rush to start, leaving that to me. I took the orders and made them as fast as I could, I was by myself for some reason tonight I glanced at the schedule that was taped to the cabinet behind the counter, and it was just me. I groaned quietly. Dinner time was no time to be left alone. 

 

“Sorry guy's.. I'm the only one on the schedule today.” I said in a typically happy voice that came with customer service, and bent down to get more cups from the cabinet.

 

I got back up and was met with brilliant blue eyes and a familiar grin. “It's alright..” I saw him glance down to my name tag “Cloud” he said, his grin turning into a sort of smirk I rolled my eyes and turned my face back into a friendly smile. 

 

“Welcome to Niebel Cafe, may I take your order sir?” I parroted my normal greeting.

 

He looked at the menu thoughtfully and smiled. “An iced coffee with milk, and a blueberry muffin.” he said seriously, then looked back toward me, “and a chance to make up knocking you over.” 

 

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Gods was this guy was persistent. “No. And that will be 300gil.” I smiled.

 

He frowned and tilted his head. “Aw come on..” he sighed “You can't stay mad at me forever.”

 

I smirked at that remark. “Yes I can, because I don't know you.” 

 

“Then why don't you get to know me.” He grinned.

 

I groaned. “Gods. You don't take no for an answer do you.”

 

He grinned. “Nope.”

 

I mixed his iced coffee and grabbed his muffin from the container. “Have a nice day.” I said as I collected the money he owed, glad to be rid of him, but I was severely disappointed when he sat down in the corner and pulled his laptop out. “Great...” I groaned to myself as I started taking the other peron's order. 

 

Two hours later the rush had died down and Zack had left.. his number at the seat he was at. I crumbled it up and put it in my smock hurriedly grumbling that it wasn't happening. I wiped the rest of the tables in a hurry, still making sure that they were clean and waited on closing time, leaning against the counter these were the slow hours on Monday's, I grabbed a stool and put it at the counter, pulling my books out from the underneath of it. I sighed and opened the top book, looking over the assignment for tonight. Seemed easy enough, just mostly review from things we covered mixed with the things we just learned. I got to work, putting the x's and y's where they belonged and finding the correct numbers for them. I kept glancing at the clock, waiting for 9 when closing hit. A few customers came in here and there, but it the rate dropped back down to nothing soon enough. When 8:30 rolled around I started getting the store ready for close, which meant cleaning up the place. 

 

“Hmm..” I said absentmindedly as I swept my eyes around the Cafe to look for anything else that might need cleaned. I shrugged when I saw nothing and took my smock off, the paper with Zack's number falling out of it and onto the floor. “Oh right.. I forgot about this.” I said, still slightly annoyed with this man's persistence. Maybe I should give him a chance, said a small voice in my head, making me roll my eyes. I pulled out my phone and typed his number in, sending a quick “Hi, It's Cloud.”

 

And the first thought that popped into my head was how much I was going to regret that decision.

 


	3. New Beginnings

Easy as Breathing  
Chapter 3: Second Chances  
AndiAi

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or towns in this story, it all belongs to Square. If it were mine, things would have happened way differently.

The wind blew gently, bringing a bit of a chill that was common when it came to late winter, early spring times, though the smell of winter things still lingered. Like the smell of hot cocoa, with a hint of peppermint from stands that had always lingered around until the very last moments of winter. I smiled when I saw a kid run across the street toward the playground that I had grown up in, sporting a thin pink jacket, that was perfect for the weather, even though it was definitely meant for the autumnal season. Even though spring drew nearer now the grass was still a brownish color, leaving the park looking barren, except for the evergreen trees that left tiny dots of their emerald color around the park.

I stood and began walking toward the Cafe, where I was supposed to be meeting Zack. It had been a week since I had decided that I would stop being an ass – for lack of better description – toward him, though I was still regretting that decision, mostly because part of me wanted to be an ass with him forever, just because it was fun. I knew that was immature, especially for me, the one my father called the young-old man. Though that might be because of my quiet broody nature, I never really open up to anyone, except for the people that I was the closest to. I opened the door to the cafe, the smell of the coffee overwhelmed me – in a good way, definitely a good way – causing a small smile to cross my face. I had always loved the smell of this place – even when I was little. My dad's best friend Mr. Highwind owned it, even though he had always wanted to be an astronaut – as the story goes he had even gone to the school and everything, but he was in an accident before he ever got to go up. 

I grabbed my normal seat, it was in the corner next to a window, where I could lean back and just watch the people go by without much of a care. I checked my phone, just in case I hadn't felt it vibrate, and for the time, there were no messages and I was early, of course I was. I sighed and shoved my phone back in my pocket and walked up to the counter. 

“Hey, Cloud, what can I get for you today?” Shera said, though she probably knew anyway. She smiled as she waited, her brown bangs jiggled a bit in front of her eyebrows when she moved her head. 

“Hey Mrs. Highwind.” I smiled, and she rolled her eyes.

“No need to be so formal sweetie, you're old enough, and you've known me long enough for us to be on a first name basis. Besides, between you and me, that title makes me feel old.” She scolded me playfully. 

I couldn't help but to crack a grin. “I'll have my usual, Chocolate Chip Frappe.” She nodded and got to work, grabbing the ingredients and carefully, ever so carefully mixed them, making sure all of the ingredients were in the right proportions. She had always been super cautious, making sure everything was in working order and even taking up to fixing them herself when they did break just to be sure it was done properly. When she mixed it she hummed the melody of the song that played softly in the background. I leaned against the counter putting my elbows against the cool marble surface, and rested my chin on my hands as I waited. When she finally finished she handed me the cup of frozen heaven. 

When I went to pull my card out of my pocket she shook her head. “It's on the house, and don't even think about arguing it.”

I took it and gave her a half playful glare. “Fine,” I said softly, “but I'm not happy about it.” I turned and walked back to my seat, taking a sip of my frappe, when I sat I took my finger and dabbed at the chocolate syrup and licked it off when it stuck. I pulled my phone out again and checked the time. Great, it was almost the time we set up for him to be here. I took a nervous sip of my drink. I sucked with new people, even ones that I had already been harassed by, and had been texting with for a week. I groaned when the clock hand moved agonizing over this meeting. I wasn't gonna just ditch, because I had basically already promised, and I was a man of my word. I leaned back and hit my head against the back of my seat gently. Why had I gotten myself into this situation, I know how I am around people, and yet I was stupid enough to allow myself to let him set this up. 

A few minutes later, I heard the bell above the door ring, and groaned when I looked up and saw him walk through the door, he stopped to look around, and smiled when he spotted me in the corner. He strode toward me and I felt my stomach churn. “Hey there!” He said in his overly happy voice. 

I waved awkwardly. “Hi.” I replied quietly, a blush forming on my cheeks from the anger at my stupid shy behavior. 

He cracked a grin and sat down in the seat across from me, why was he always so happy? “How are you today?” He casually said. 

“I'm okay.” I said, in a normal tone. “How are you?” In a way, this was just like our text messages. So it was surprisingly easy to shake off how nervous I had been over the whole ordeal. 

“Well, I'm alright too.” He said through his smile, brushing his hair back with his fingers. 

The conversation went on for a little bit, and even though I wasn't as nervous as I had been, the awkwardness was still there, for me at least. He seemed so carefree, and I wondered how it felt to be like that, without all the anxiety and brooding. He seemed like a decent guy to be around though, someone I could definitely be friends with. 

“So, I've never asked about what made you decide to actually speak to me civilly.” He said, changing from small talk to actual talk.

“I'm not really sure myself.” I said thinking about it. “I felt kind of bad for being such an ass, that's definitely one of the reasons. I kind of overreacted to you knocking me over. The other reasons, I'm still wondering about myself.” I decided that was the best way to explain it, because that was the only way I could even make it make sense. 

He nodded. “You did overreact, but I do understand you being mad, if some stranger knocked me over, I would be pretty pissed off too.” 

“Then you know exactly why was an ass then.” I was simple in the way I talked, trying not to babble, because that's what I did. Babbling was my specialty, and most of the time I wished someone would just shut me up. But no one ever does, probably being over polite. 

He nodded. “Yes, I do know why you were being an ass.” He agreed. 

I sighed and stood up to stretch. “Would you like to take a walk with me?” I asked offering him a small smile. “I hate sitting for long periods of time, it makes me feel like I'm in school.”

“School?” He questioned. “You haven't graduated yet?” I opened the door to the shop as he said this and breathed in the fresh air.

“No, but I plan on graduating in May.” I was surprised, I had figured he'd known I was in school at this point, I mean he DID knock me over with my giant backpack. 

He nodded. “Oh that makes sense. You know, you're very mature for your age, right?” He seemed a little bit nervous at this point, and I couldn't help but wonder why.

I shrugged it off and answered his question. “Yeah, my dad calls me his young-old man.” I couldn't help but laugh at quietly as I said it out loud, it just made sense when I looked at most of my personality.

“Well it definitely fits you.” He elbowed me. “No, but in all seriousness, you should take that as a compliment.” 

“I actually do.” I nodded lightly. “I like being mature, if you met my twin sister you would probably understand why. If I wasn't she probably wouldn't have the chance of graduating this year.” Which is probably why she is pushing me so hard, now that I think about it, she's pushing me the way I pushed her to work harder on her school work. The after thought of that sentence rang in my head, because the sister that had been stressing me out the last few weeks was only doing to me what I did to her back in the ninth grade.

“Well, I like that you're mature too.” He was serious when he said this. “Maturity is a necessity in life, especially if you want to succeed. I didn't have your maturity at your age, mine came later. A couple years late if I do say so myself.” He closed his eyes. “It slowed me down a bit, but things are going smooth now. I'm a Sophomore in college. I'm going to be a teacher at the high school here.” He nodded and smiled as he thought of his future. 

“Is that what you've always wanted to do?” I blurted out, mostly because it surprised me.

“Not always.” he started. “I've changed my mind so many times, and this probably won't be the last time I change it either. Which is why I haven't started my main courses yet, just the core ones.”

“It's a tough decision, to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life.” I thought about what I wanted to do, and I was still unsure. “I'm unsure myself, and I'm about to graduate in a few months. I guess the best thing to do with this is to pick something you can see yourself doing forever, and never getting bored with it.” I repeated the same advice Aerith had given me at the beginning of this school year. Like I said, she had always been the wise one.

He nodded. “I'll remember that” Then his serious expression turned into a grin. “ I want to show you something!” He blurted out, I almost didn't understand it because the words ran together. Then he grabbed my arm and started running down the street, practically dragging me with him, though had I not been running to try and keep up with them he would have been dragging me.

“Hey!” I shouted, nearly out of breath. “Where are we going?”

“It's a surprise!” He replied, nearly out of breath himself, I groaned though. I hated surprises, but if he was as stubborn as he seemed there was no use in fighting him on it, so I followed him, though I'll never know why.

He dragged me down the road for what seemed like forever, but more accurately it was only for a few minutes, stopping in front of the mountain trail. He bent over, trying to catch his breath, and I followed his lead. “Why are we at the trail?” I questioned, looking at him incredulously. 

“It's still a surprise.” He smirked and stood straight, walking into the trail. I had hated this place since I was a child, and I wasn't keen on following him through it. “Come on...” he whined. 

I rolled my eyes. “Fine.. I swear you're like a puppy.” I complained and starting taking cautious steps toward him. “I hate this place you know..”

“Aw come on. It'll be fine.” He half yelled as he was already a bit ahead of me. 

“Yeah, until we die.” I grumbled to myself unhappily, this place had lots of horror stories, monsters stealing people away and eating them alive. Though it more than likely was an old wives tale, it kept the children from going into the mountain range and harming themselves, though the tales followed the children even through adulthood. Most of the people in the town usually just avoided this place. I pushed the fear to the back of my mind and started to run in his general direction trying to catch up. I sighed when I reached him and he smirked. 

“So slow.” He stuck his tongue out at me and I rolled my eyes. 

“So childish.” I teased, and he pretended to be offended, but continued to press onward toward the mountain range, as we walked the smell of fresh water filled my nostrils, which was odd. As far as I knew, there were no bodies of fresh water near where I lived, we had to filter the sea water to have drinking water for the town. He continued to press on, and as we moved forward, the cave that was the entrance to the mountain range came into view, seeing it in person was different than I had imagined. It wasn't exactly comforting, but at the same time, it wasn't horrifying either. I took a deep and continued to walk forward. When we walked into the cave, I felt a chill come over me, but not from fear, it was from awe. 

The cave walls were lined with little crystals, and they shone like they were being powered up by something, it was a breath taking sight. Little bits of multicolored light flecked onto the cave floor making the floor look like a rainbow. “These are Mako crystals, otherwise know as materia. It's the lifestream coming to the surface and condensing, this mountain range is a source of a lot of mako energy, that's why Shinra put a reactor here, well until they found a more earth friendly power source.” He explained when he turned around to me. “It's believed that these crystals can call upon the power of the lifestream and manipulate the elements, that's the legend at least.” He grinned, and all I could do was nod, it was as if the crystals had me hypnotized by their beauty, and I ran my fingers along the wall, the crystals were cool and smooth like glass, which a big difference when compared to the rough surface of the stone in between some of the crystal.

“How do you know all this?” I asked, it was something I hadn't even really known about.

“I'm in college. You learn more about the legends of the world through your professors, than you do from high schools, especially when they're only legends.” He explained, the lights glowed off his face, and he smiled.

“So where are you taking me?” I asked. He didn't answer, only shook his head and continued to walk forward. It got quiet, mostly at my continued awe at the beautiful crystals.

“There was a time, when because of the reactors, that the crystals in this cave were dulled. The reactors had been sucking the life out of the planet, making it harder and harder for the trees and plants to grow.” He said. “Then about ten years ago the president of Shinra found a new power source, one that wouldn't make the planet fall apart, that's the energy we use today.”

'I didn't know that had even happened.” I sighed. “It was ten years ago, I was a child.”

He nodded. “I know, that's why I'm telling you. We're almost there though.” I looked forward and there was a brilliant light, and I smiled because I thought we were almost out of the cave, but what I saw was better than leaving this place. I walked into a room with a small pond that glowed a brilliant green, there was a little island in the center of it, a little tree sprouted with a crystal that glowed like the others in the cave, but this was bigger, and put out a stronger light. 

All I could manage was a small gasp before getting out my words. “This is so beautiful... Is this more mako?”

He nodded and smiled. “Catching on I see, this is a mako fountain. Though this was much smaller of a pond ten years back, it was beautiful all the same.” I looked around the rest of the room. At the top there was a hole that was a perfect circle right above the small island with the tree. Sunlight shone through and reflected off the already glowing pond, making it shine bright. The rest of this area was like a small forest, trees were growing out of the mako thickly. It was like a paradise here, quiet with just the sound of flowing water, which I assumed came from the mako. 

I sat on the ground and sighed looking at the beautiful scene around me. Zack did the same a few minutes after I did, and we talked for what seemed like hours, sharing stories of things we had done in the past, and what we liked to do, and when it came time to go home, he walked me to my car from the cave, and I said goodnight. 

I had learned so much in that day. Not just about Zack, but about the planet's history, and even some of the legends, and at this point, because of everything I was no longer regretting giving him the second chance and getting to know him. I was just looking forward to learning more, about everything, including Zack himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter is a bit more into the universe that i have placed them in for the story. Also a lot more detail thanks to a reviewer on my ff.net version of this. So I hope you enjoy!


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